


A hard place

by vogue91



Series: 500themes [10]
Category: Hey! Say! JUMP, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Cats, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Phobias
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-17 00:34:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14821871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vogue91/pseuds/vogue91
Summary: But then, it happened.He coughed, panicking, to try and cover the sound, but it was too late. Hikaru had heard.And he had also jumped up, shrieking like a girl and looking around, pure horror in his eyes.“Okay, Yuto, let’s keep our cool.” he whispered, as if their house had just been attacked by Nazi troops.“Didn’t think I was losing it.”





	A hard place

**Title:** A hard place

 **Characters:** Yaotome Hikaru, Nakajima Yuto

 **Pairing:** Yaotome Hikaru/Nakajima Yuto

 **Rating:** G

 **Word count:** 3.350

**Prompt:[228\. Between a rock and a hard place. ](http://vogue91.blogspot.com/2018/05/500themes.html)**

 

 

Yuto knew he was in trouble.

Huge one, also.

He was sitting on the couch, nervously looking at the clock.

Hikaru had called an hour ago telling him he was going to be home in about forty-five minutes. Factoring in the traffic, the fact that perhaps he had stayed behind for a while with Yabu and Kei...

He should’ve been home in a few minutes tops. And Yuto was always happy whenever he had spent the whole day home alone and Hikaru came back, but not in that particular occasion.

He was between a rock and a hard place, and was still pondering about how to explain to his boyfriend what had happened, when he heard the front door opening.

“Tadaima!” Hikaru yelled from the entrance, and less than a minute later he had gotten rid of his jacket and shoes and had joined his boyfriend into the living room.

“Okaeri.” Yuto managed to smile to him, seeing him beating his nervousness for now. “Did you have fun?” he asked then, stretching out his arm and letting the elder sit on the couch next to him.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it fun. You know how Kei manages to get on my nerves when he’s having a bad day. I think he was mad at Kota or something, he’s been a pain in the arse all day.” he said, wincing, and then he leant over to kiss him. “But it doesn’t matter, cause I’m here now and I plan on doing absolutely nothing else for the rest of the evening.” he stated, grinning. “What about you? Done anything nice today?”

Nakajima held his breath for a moment, trying to keep his cool.

“Not much. I mostly stayed home. But I’ve had lunch with Ryo-chan at that okonomiyaki place we wanted to try out.” he said, keeping it very casual.

“Oh, nice. How is it?” Hikaru asked, interested.

“Good. Oh well, I think Yamada ate his weight worth of food, so I figure really good.” he smirked.

Yaotome chuckled briefly, then he sighed and playfully nipped at his neck.

“I’m sorry I've left you alone all day. Actually, it’s been a while since we’ve been last paired off for ItaJan. We should point that out to Kekeke.” he suggested, wincing.

Yuto laughed, both at the idea of them doing just that and because Hikaru’s nose was tickling his throat. He pulled back a little, still keeping his body pressed against the elder’s.

“Yeah, I can totally see how _that_ conversation would go down. Not suspicious at all.” he commented.

“It doesn’t have to be anything suspicious.” Hikaru contradicted him. “I’d just go to him and tell him that I want to film with you because I miss you when you’re not there. That’s completely innocent.” he said, managing to stay serious while doing that.

Yuto was about to reply, surprised at how easily he had forgotten of the reason why he had felt so nervous.

But then, it happened.

He coughed, panicking, to try and cover the sound, but it was too late. Hikaru had heard.

And he had also jumped up, shrieking like a girl and looking around, pure horror in his eyes.

“Okay, Yuto, let’s keep our cool.” he whispered, as if their house had just been attacked by Nazi troops.

Nakajima, still sitting on the couch, arched an eyebrow.

“Didn’t think I was losing it.” he murmured, because he just had to, even though he knew what was to come.

Hikaru, as expected, glared at him.

“Don’t be such a smart-ass when there’s clearly a dangerous beast inside the house.” he said, joking, but still looking incredibly nervous.

Yuto rolled his eyes, finally getting up and putting his hands on his boyfriend’s shoulder.

“It’s no dangerous beast, Hikaru. The poor thing is not bigger than my hand.” he told him.

Hikaru was about to reply that maybe that was even worse, when it hit him.

“What do you mean... how do you know...” he mumbled, then he opened his eyes wide. “Yuto, did you willingly let a _cat_ inside my apartment?” he gasped, and to untrained eyes it must’ve looked like he was exaggerating on purpose, yet the younger knew he was dead serious.

“It’s our apartment.” he pointed out, his voice lower and lower.

“Yeah, because that was the main focus of the subject.” Hikaru sounded both confused and angry as he looked at him, but then he seemed to remember about the imminent threat. “Where is it?” he asked, looking around and instinctively jumping on the couch.

And Yuto laughed. Because, well, Hikaru could only really kill him once, so he was going to at least let it be worth it.

“It’s not a mouse, Hikka. Cats can actually jump on couches.” he mocked him, then sighed. “It’s in our bedroom. Don’t worry, door’s closed. You’re safe for now.” he told him, reaching out a hand as to help him getting down.

“Make fun of me all you want Yuto, you’re still so sleeping on the couch tonight.” he winced, pushing his hand away and getting down on his own.

“Are you sure you don’t want the couch? You know, cat being there and all. And you being too mad at me to actually come and ask me to take care of it.” Nakajima grinned, hoping he was still going to at least get the hint of a smile from him.

Nothing.

“Now you’re going to sit down, you’re going to stop trying to be funny because you suck at it, and you’re going to explain exactly the reason why there’s currently a feline under my roof.” Yaotome said, incredibly calm, sitting down and firmly patting the spot next to him.

Yuto gave up, and did as he had been asked.

“Ok, fine.” he sighed. “I told you I went to lunch with Ryo, right? I didn’t really feel like taking the underground, so I took the car.” he winced. “Well, your car.” he admitted.

“I wouldn’t care if you had taken my kidney, Yuto. There are more pressing issues now than you borrowing my car.” the elder hissed, his eyes fixated on him, except for when he looked around, as if to make sure that the cat hadn't suddenly learnt how to deal with door handles.

“Well, yeah.” the younger looked more and more nervous. “Anyway, when I got back I parked the car down in the garage, and I’ve heard meowing. So I tried to understand where it came from.”

“Are you crazy?” his boyfriend interrupted him, his eyes wide open. “You were in an enclosed space and you’ve willingly gone searching for the source of a meow?”

Yuto scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“Not all of us have ridiculous phobias.” he cut him short, then rushed to go on before the other could interrupt him again. “I realized it came from the car, and to tell you the truth I got pretty scared. The meowing was continuous, he was clearly crying, so I was afraid he might’ve been hurt, and... I didn’t want to open the engine compartment and see if he was...” he winced. “I’ve thought about waiting for you. But, of course, then it’s come to me that you would've been pretty useless.” he pointed out, and Hikaru nodded.

“Of course. I would've scrapped the car and bought a new one.” he confirmed.

Yuto sighed, shaking his head.

“Anyway.” he went on. “Then somehow he managed to get out on his own. Hikaru, it’s really, really small. He can't be more than a week old, he really fits in the palm of my hands.” he tried to reassure the elder, knowing it was a lost cause. “I think he got scared and crawled inside the car’s framework. I couldn’t just leave him there. He would've gotten inside another car, and I couldn’t let him risk it, something  bad would've happened to him.” he licked his lower lip. “So I took him here, and I gave him some milk. He came with me fairly easy, even though he kept crying. He’s stopped now though, I don’t think he’s scared anymore.”

Hikaru breathed in a couple of times, looking like he was about to get sick.

“Why do you keep referring to it as ‘he’? Yuto, I hope you’re not even considering...” he whined, but couldn’t even finish his sentence for how ridiculous its continuation sounded to him.

“Well, it’s a male cat. Once I know that, it’s stupid to call it ‘it’.” he pointed out. “I’ve also kind of named him.” he blushed heavily. “Kou.” he murmured.

Hikaru stared at him, miserable.

“I don’t know. I’m kind of hoping that you’re cheating on me with Kota and it’s ‘Kou’ with the kanji of ‘hiroi’, instead of ‘hikari’*.” he said, hiding his face in the couch upholstery.

“You know, I’m actually sorry I'm not cheating on you.” Yuto muttered. “It kind of reminds me of you, so I called it ‘Kou’ with the kanji of ‘hikari’. Sue me.” he said, sourly.

“I just might.” Hikaru told him, resurfacing and sighing. “In what possible way could a cat ever remind you of me?” he asked then, more and more disgusted.

“He likes me.” Yuto had the answer ready, and he smiled to his boyfriend, trying to look convincing.

He wasn’t lucky.

“Not really liking you too much right now.” was all Hikaru commented, then he shook his head. “So? What now? I suppose you’re not just going to throw it back into the street. Will you take him to the veterinary?” he asked. “Because in that case, I might just leave and ask for asylum somewhere else. Somewhere cats-free.”

Yuto took a deep breath.

The hard part was yet to come.

“He’s really small, Hikka.” he remarked the concept. “And he’s scared. I don’t really want to traumatize him more than he already is. So I was thinking...” he bit his lip, hard. “Iwasthinkingwecankeephim.” he said, incredibly fast.

But Hikaru still got the gist of it.

He gasped a couple of times, as if he wanted to say something – or yell it, it was more likely – but couldn’t.

“Nakajima Yuto.” he said when he finally was able to speak again. “You know me. You’ve known me for a long time. You know I’m a reasonable man.” he said, his calm voice tainted by a note of panic. “I hate cats. I’m disgusted by them. They haunt my nightmares. I could just have a stroke if I see one. And you’re really suggesting we keep the thing?” he asked, looking at his boyfriend straight in the eyes.

Yuto winced.

He knew it. He knew Hikaru was terrified of cats, and he had never minded that trait on him, but now...

“Would you at least see it?” he begged. “You don’t have to get close to it. I’ll keep it tight in my hands the whole time, I swear. I won't let him get nowhere near you. I just want you to see it.”

And now it was Hikaru’s turn to feel between a rock and a hard place.

On one hand, he would've rather stuck his head inside a bag of living eels before letting Yuto show him the cat.

On the other, he knew that if the younger was hoping he was going to like the beast, he was dead wrong. And that might’ve been the only way to prove that to him.

“Fine.” he said, dry. “I’ll stand close to the kitchen and you’ll stay on the bedroom door. Don’t get any closer than that.” he granted him, and Yuto ran toward the other room, looking incredibly confident.

Hikaru got into position, nervous.

He just hoped it was going to be over soon.

To be honest, when Yuto appeared on the doorframe, he could kind of see it.

The cat was really, really small, so he figured the younger must’ve been right saying it couldn’t be more than a week old; and it sort of resembled him, his fur of medium length, a bright mix of red and beige.

Well, he would've seen all that, if his first reaction hadn't been pure horror.

“Another step back.” he asked his boyfriend, his voice feeble.

Yuto rolled his eyes theatrically and complied.

“Hikaru... he’s seriously smaller than my hand, look.” he said, showing the cat to him. Which, actually, seemed to be pretty comfortable on Nakajima’s palm.

“Your hands are kind of big though.” Hikaru murmured, never tearing his eyes off the animal, as if it could’ve somehow jumped the distance between them and assail him. “Yutti, baby, I can't.” he said then, every smugness lost, feeling genuinely sorry that he couldn’t do what the younger was asking of him.

“Don’t call me ‘baby’ with that look on your face.” Yuto complained, wincing. Then he took a deep breath, and slowly walked toward the elder.

“ _Yuto_.” Hikaru hissed. “What the hell are you doing? Don’t you dare get any closer with that thing, don’t...” he backed off into the kitchen, before realizing that there was no escape from there.

“Easy, Hikka.” the younger said, reaching the door and looking straight at him. “I won't get any closer than this.” he assured him. “But I’d like for you to do that.” he added then, looking way too serious for the circumstance.

Well, if Hikaru could turn this into a tragedy, he was allowed to go with the flow.

Yaotome stopped breathing there for a moment.

“Impossible, Yuto. I can’t do it, you should know that. You should take that thing away from the house before I have a panic attack, really.”

Yuto was about to step even further, but then he remembered he had promised he wasn’t going to do that.

“I know you’re scared. I don’t understand it, I think it’s weird even as phobias go, but I know how you feel. All I’m asking is for you to genuinely try to get close to it.” he said, trying to be as patient as possible. “For me, Hikka.” he added then, managing to keep his face serious the whole time.

“That’s a low blow.” his boyfriend told him, groaning. “So what now? Does our relationship depend on the damn thing? I get closer we get married, I pet it we’re going to have a beautiful beach house, I hold it we’re going to have four kids?” he made a sarcastic sound. “And if I just stay here that’s where we crumble?” he added, and it must’ve sounded ridiculous even to him, because he lowered his eyes.

And that was about all Yuto could take, and he burst out laughing.

“I don’t think Kou is going to ruin our relationship.” he reassured him. “But it would certainly make me very, very happy if you’d at least try to overcome your fear. If you think about it, I'm doing this for you too.”

“How generous of you.” Hikaru murmured.

Then, he took a very slow, very hesitant step forward.

There were about three metres now between him and the cat, and he felt a shiver down his spine.

“You can do it, baby.” Yuto mocked him, aware that it wasn’t the right time to do so, but unable to resist.

“You’re not allowed to call me baby, only I can do that.” Yaotome remarked, taking another small step toward him.

“I am too, when you act like one.” Nakajima pointed out, but the smile on his face was softer now.

One metre. Which was already further than he thought Hikaru would've made it.

The kitten, meanwhile, kept still in his hand, and Yuto was incredibly grateful for that. He didn’t really need for him to make any sudden movement, which would've certainly made Hikaru ran through the door and never come back.

He was so close now.

When he finally stood in front of him, Yuto could see he was shaking a little, his expression pained and his breathing fast.

“This is for the wedding.” he joked, incredibly nervous.

“I’m proud of you.” the younger told him, sounding surprised. “Wow, I wasn’t even joking. I really am proud.” he admitted, but he didn’t get much of a reaction from Hikaru.

Very, very, very slowly, the elder raised a hand. And at the same pace, he lowered it on the cat, deciding to settle for a finger in the end. It really was small, after all.

“This is for the beach house.” he murmured, managing not to look too disgusted while he brushed the kitten’s head.

“So? How is it?” Yuto asked him, smiling openly.

“Soft.” was the first word that came to Hikaru’s mind. “And scary. And disgusting. And I'm about to feel sick.” he said.

He was about to back off, but with his free hand Yuto grabbed his wrist.

“What about the kids?” he asked, moving the kitten slightly closer to him.

Hikaru held his breath.

He brought his hand closer to Nakajima’s, his palm wide open, and held it there until the younger let the cat move on to it.

“Keep your hand there.” Yaotome asked, his voice trembling a little. “Keep touching it. It’s used to you, I don’t want it to panic and do something _I_ would regret.”

Yuto did as he was asking, more than willing to compromise at this point, and kept his hand there so that they were both holding it.

“I think that only deserves two kids.” he pointed out, grinning.

“That’s alright. I like small families anyway.” Hikaru replied, then he grimaced. “Can I let go now?” he begged, and when Yuto nodded he pulled back, going toward the table and keeping his distance. “Put it back into the bedroom.” he asked his boyfriend, and just once he heard the door to their room closing and saw Yuto getting back empty handed, he seemed to relax again.

“That’s definitely the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.” he stated.

Yuto laughed, reaching for him and pressing himself against him.

“I love how brave you are.” he made fun of him, but Hikaru wasn’t bothered.

He was scared of cats, not stupid, and he knew how over the top the whole thing must’ve looked for Yuto.

“Yeah, well. It’s incredibly hard to say no to you. I really have to work on that.”

Yuto laughed, leaning over to kiss him.

“Not too hard, please.” he murmured against his lips, then he sighed. “So, what do you think?” he asked then.

Hikaru sighed, torn.

In his list of possible roommates, cats came after a vast number of other potentially horrible things, like smallpox, men-eating aliens and Kei.

And then there was Yuto.

Damn it. He knew it was a bad idea to love someone who liked cats.

“It’s got to have a place to stay when I’m home. Which can’t be my bedroom.” he said, dry.

“Fine.” Yuto agreed, and couldn’t hold back a smile.

“And I want to see it the least I can. And he can’t roam free, because if I meet it while I’m around I might just die from it.”

“Okay, I’ll take care of that.”

“And...” he actually couldn’t come up with anything else, so he just shook his head. “I can't believe I’m letting you do this.” he said, pretty disappointed in himself.

“I do. You’re not so bad as you’d want me to believe.” Yuto mocked him, then his smile grew slier. “Besides, now there are two kids in our future. Is better if we start learning how take care of things.” he teased him, but Hikaru wasn’t particularly bothered.

“I sincerely hope I won’t be scared of my own kids like this.” he muttered.

Yuto kissed him again, deeper, bringing his arms around his neck.

“I know you too well, Yaotome Hikaru.” he told him. “You most certainly will.”

Hikaru was about to reply, but he gave up.

Yuto was going to take care of everything, apparently. The cat, the kids. Most likely, the beach house as well.

For a while, he decided, he wasn’t going to call him ‘baby’. He most definitely wasn’t one.

 

 

*’Kou’ can be written in various ways; amongst them, 宏 from Kota’s name, which in the kun reading it’s “hiroi”, “wide”, and 光, Hikaru’s name, which is ‘Kou’ in the on reading.

But then again, my knowledge of Japanese it’s not accurate enough to assure you that it’s not a bunch of BS.

 

 

 

 


End file.
